


there are many things i want to ask you

by cityofflights



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Rafael has trouble with romance, but he tries, like what even is the plot of this?, this is so silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:08:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26269996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cityofflights/pseuds/cityofflights
Summary: "Maybe you could write him a note?""A note?""Something like “Sonny Carisi will you marry me? Please check yes or no” what do youthink?"He didn’t know what was worse, Oliva suggesting it or Rafael considering it.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Comments: 16
Kudos: 75





	there are many things i want to ask you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [givebackmylifecas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/givebackmylifecas/gifts).



> this is entirely based on me seeing this  
> [ sticker ](https://www.redbubble.com/i/sticker/Sonny-Carisi-by-Zeezeewyatt/55349910.EJUG5)  
> and telling ellen (@angstypalermo) "hey imagine rafael getting 100 of these to propose to sonny" so yeah this is the result of that, I hope you enjoy it

Anyone who knows Rafael Barba, whether it’s in a professional capacity or on a more personal level, will tell you he’s undoubtedly an intelligent and quite creative man. And they wouldn’t be wrong in their statements, after all, they don’t go around handing Harvard scholarships to anyone. And yet, despite being one of the smartest guys in the room at any given time, Rafael can’t think of a single way to propose to his boyfriend.

Sonny is the romantic one in the relationship. He’s the one who always gifts him a single sunflower when Rafael’s having a bad day cause he knows they make him smile. He’s the one cash in all his favours to surprise him at their one-year anniversary with a week-long vacation in Hawaii. He’s the one who said “I love you” the first time and he’s the one who smiled and kissed him softly when the tears threatened to make their way out of his eyes at the confession. So he’s the romantic, it’s an established fact and they’re both more than okay with it.

So it would be logical to think that Sonny would take charge and propose but Rafael has been waiting for almost four months and nothing has happened. He scratches the idea that Sonny isn’t ready for marriage almost as soon as he thinks of it, just a few weeks ago at Rita and Liv’s wedding he had pressed his lips against his ear and whispered “I can’t wait for our turn” during the vows with a smile he could see without looking.

The only conclusion he was able to reach is that while Sonny is ready for marriage he probably thinks Rafael hasn’t reached that same point quite yet. The problem could be resolved by a long-overdue conversation. But talks about feelings were never Rafael’s strong suit so he decided the best way to show Sonny how ready he was to be married to him was simply to propose. That would clear any doubts.

Which brought him to his current situation, trying to find the perfect way to do so. The page he ripped out of his legal pad is still empty besides the word “Ideas” which he wrote at the top 20 minutes ago. A knock on the door followed by a “Good afternoon” interrupt his thought process. Not that there was much to interrupt, to begin with.

He had confined in Liv, a couple of days ago, his plan to propose to Sonny along with how clueless he felt about the whole ordeal so the woman in front of him didn’t need more than one look at him to figure out what was going on.

“I’m going out on a limb here and say you haven’t come up with any ideas for your marriage proposal,” she said taking a look at the sheet of paper lying in front of him, putting the files which motivated her visit next to it.

"I don't suppose you have a suggestion of some kind?"

He should have known asking for Olivia's advice on something related to his love life was not a good idea but desperate times called for desperate measures. His best friend had many qualities but just like himself, the ability to pull off romantic gestures was not one of them. But still, a bad or corny idea was better than no idea at all.

"Maybe you could write him a note?"

"A note?"

"Something like _“Sonny Carisi will you marry me? Please check yes or no”_ what do you 

think?" 

He didn’t know what was worse, Oliva suggesting it or Rafael considering it. Probably both on equal measures.

"Do I look like a third grader?"

"I value our friendship so I will refrain from answering that" 

"I'm glad you find my struggling amusing I will certainly remember this when I’m choosing my best man."

"If you ever get around to propose that is"

"Tell me don't you have a job to attend to? I don't think it's wise to leave your detectives unsupervised for too long"

"Speaking from experience?" she smirked at him making her way out of his office.

The eye roll that followed couldn’t be misinterpreted for something other than fondness, the smile tugging at his lips showing he wasn’t really annoyed. 

“Goodbye 

"Don't worry Rafa, you'll think of something" she said before closing the door.

And with that, she left the man once again alone with his thoughts. The idea of making such an important question through a note was absurd no matter what angle it was looked at from and yet he couldn't get it out of his head. 

Maybe the overcomplication of the whole issue was the problem. His relationship with Sonny was always something easy and fun, a break from the constant everyday stress they both faced. Why should the way they become engaged any different? Of course, he couldn’t just leave a random post-it note with it next to the coffee maker and the shopping list but it was a start and so he pulled himself closer to the computer to begin his research.   


After long hours of searching, he had finally come across something that sounded perfect. He had found a little internet shop that customized stickers, most of them were cute drawings or images meant for decoration but there were a few templates meant for typing out messages.

He went for a simple looking one, just a white background and black letters and, he sent instructions for what should be written in each one. In the bottom part of the stickers they all looked the same, it contained the actual question, it read “Marry me please?” 

The difference between them could be found in the top part, as in each individual sticker he had purchased had a different inscription.

Rafael had started with the obvious: “I love you”, “You make me happier than I thought I could be”, “My days get brighter when you’re around” but soon his order was closing in on 100 items and he noticed how specific his declarations of love were getting.

“Your dimple gets even bigger when you laugh at my jokes because you never thought you would get to hear them” 

“You always wait for me to wake up to go make coffee because you know I like it best when it was just made”

“You carry around snacks in your pockets because you know how often I forget to eat”

When he got to the final one his eyes were getting slightly damped and if anyone were to walk in on his office they would probably think it was a hallucination of some sort. ADA Rafael Barba, near tears, smiling like an idiot while recounting all the reasons he was in love with his soon-to-be fiance.

The last one was the only sticker he actually had a place in mind to put it on, it would go on top of the ring box he had bought a couple of weeks ago. It said “I’ve got this ring and it’s just your size” and it would be the perfect way to end his proposal. 

Once the order was placed all he had to do was wait.

A few weeks later it finally arrived in his office. Rafael couldn’t risk being found out before we could put his thoroughly thought plan so he had shipped it to the DA’s office instead of their apartment. As soon as he saw the box sitting next to his other nowhere near as important mail he had Carmen cancel all his afternoon meetings, he couldn’t wait any longer.

So now here he was, having covered every available object in the living room with the stickers and waiting for Sonny to arrive so he could finally propose. The ring box, with the final message already attached to it, was safely tucked in his pant’s pockets but all the other 99 items were randomly glued on every possible location: photo frames, the tv, the law books on the shelves, even the koala teddy bear Sonny had gifted him with on their 3 months anniversary had made its way from the closet to the couch so Rafael could stick one on the animal’s fluffy forehead.

As soon as he as done placing everything, the doubts he had spent the last weeks chasing away came back. Rafael wasn’t scared of Sonny’s response, he knew with all his heart that  the other man would say yes. What he was really scared of was the reaction to the way he had chosen to pop the question. He couldn’t help but think that Sonny would be disappointed, that his attempt at a romantic gesture would be a failure, that it would be lacking and underwhelming. 

He was full-on pacing around the house, debating whether or not he should abort the whole thing and pretend it never happened when he heard the familiar sound of a key turning in the lock. He quickly made his way to his planned hide-out spot, behind a little wall that divided the kitchen and the living room from the hall leading to the bedroom.

“I’m home, are you here Raf?” the greeting had started in the man’s customary full and deep voice but when it reached the last word it was more of a mumble, confusion apparent in it.

Rafael waited a few more moments, expecting Sonny to say something else or to come look for him but when the silence continued to stretch he advanced into the room to see his boyfriend’s reaction to the surprised.

He found him sitting on the floor, with a pen in his hand and a concentrated look on his face (the one he had when he was particularly focused in the task at hand where his tong would poke out a little between his lips and his eyes would slightly squint), surrounded by the objects Rafael had attached the stickers to, and writing the same thing over and over on every single one at the very bottom.

“YES”

It was absolutely the most adorable things he had ever seen but Rafael couldn’t help but interrupt him “You know you only need to answer it once right?”

The sound of his voice in the otherwise quiet room made Sonny jump a little from where he was seated as if the thought that Rafael was actually in the apartment too had been forgotten. But he recovered quickly, getting up and across the room in a few short seconds.

“I didn’t know you were here,” he says before joining their lips on a soft kiss, “Thought you had left those notes for me to find and ducked so you wouldn’t be here when I saw them. That’s why I was replying to all of them, wanted to make sure you got the message”

“Did you really thought I was going to propose without actually being here?” Rafael scoffs and ignores the part of his brain telling him that he considered that possibility very seriously. “Besides I wasn’t worried about your answer, I knew you would say yes.”

“And you were right” The smile on Sonny’s face could possibly be used as a power source to illuminate the whole state with how brightly he was beaming at Rafael, “But I would actually like to hear you asking the question”

The ring in his pocket and the speech in his head reminded him that his plan wasn’t quite finished yet and while his talent for romance was closing in on zero even he knew that those

four words were supposed to be pronounced only at the end of the ordeal. But he was a weak man when faced with blue eyes and a dimpled smile he had no other choice but to give in 

“Will you marry me?”

“Yes,” Sonny whispered against his lips.

“Yes,” he moved to kiss each cheek.

“Yes,” he said once more before pulling him even closer.

When it was clear that Sonny was just content to stay in that same position holding Rafael for the rest of the afternoon he cleared his throat and stepped back a bit so he could kneel down, after all, what was a proposal without a ring. Both men had identical tear-filled eyes although Sonny’s had already started to spill down his face. He had a surprised look on his face as if he had forgotten what was going on for a second. He most likely thought it was already over, that Rafael hadn’t gotten him a ring to go with the love declaration.

“I know I’m not the most romantic person so bear with me. Dominick “Call me Sonny” Carisi Jr. I love you and I want to marry you. I have much more than the 99 reasons you already saw” he hears something that sounds vaguely like “there are 99 of those things?” before proceeding.

“I want to marry you and I know why, so I thought you should too. I love how compassionate you are, how smart you are, how strong you are. It’s a good thing I already wrote the most part of my speech on those notes or we would be here a long time and my knees really aren’t what they used to be. So now I’ve told you my reason but just in case you need one more” and with that, he finally revealed the little box leaving it close only enough time for Sonny to read the sticker. His laugh was cut short by the sight of the ring inside. It was a thick silver band with the image of a sun engraved on it.

Once he had it on his finger he kissed Rafael for a few more seconds before running back to the where he was sitting earlier. He bent down retrieving the pen he was using before and made his way to Rafael once again and taking the box out of his fiance’s hand he wrote once again the only possible answer to the question he didn’t get tired of reading.

“Yes”

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> if you want to scream about svu or barisi you can find me on twitter @cityofflights


End file.
